Deadly European viruses have been discovered in our indigenous/wild salmon and may lead to their extinction in less than five years! The human health effects of these viruses are unknown. We have to act now!

This is similar to the smallpox virus that was spread to our Peoples through the small pox blankets and killed more than 75% of our populations in less than 5 years. This was deliberately done to wipe out our people, along with other colonial strategies like killing off the buffalo, which was the main food for Indigenous Peoples on the Plains and forced them into treaties. The salmon are the bloodline of our people, our main food and without them we lose our rights to fish!

When they tested our ancestors' bones they showed that salmon made up 95% of our diet! With the salmon decreasing in our diet, we are suffering from disease, like diabetes and cancer. Our lives are interconnected with the salmon, they are our relatives. The salmon are going through the same colonial experience that we have gone through.

Norwegian fish farms have colonized our waters and infected our wild salmon. Our salmon are forced to swim through the fish farm cesspools along their migratory routes. There is no safe passage for them!

Our indigenous/wild salmon have an amazing life cycle, that starts in our lakes and rivers and takes them on a migratory journey of thousands of kilometers into the oceans as far as Alaska and back home. This requires a lot of stamina, but now our salmon are being infected with viruses and are getting too sick to make it home and spawn.

Since 1992 up to 90% of the returning salmon that migrate past the salmon farms are dying in the river, before they can spawn. Whereas the salmon stocks that take a different migratory route with no fish farms are increasing.

There have been findings of heart virus, salmon flu and brain tumors, all related to salmon farms. Findings of these viruses have been covered up by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the Fish Farm Industry and the Province of British Columbia. A provincial fish vet has confirmed that over 70% of farmed salmon tested positive for European heart virus and it is now in our wild salmon.

How do you expect our fish to make it through Hell's Gate with a heart condition?

SIGNS OF THE VIRUSES ARE:

ˇ yellow fish

ˇ fish with soft flesh and/or sores

ˇ bleeding fins, infected gills

ˇ mushy hearts that disintegrate if you pull them out (whereas they should be firm);

ˇ red speckles on the belly

TAKE ACTION:

ˇ Contact your leaders and urge them to take action to protect our wild salmon and remove salmon farms from the migratory route of the wild salmon!

ˇ Demand that the human health effects of the viruses are studied!

ˇ Explain to other people that deadly European viruses spread through fish farms threaten our salmon along the migratory route and the Fraser River.

ˇ If you find any salmon that look sick, call: 1-866-WLD-SALM (953-7256), or take pictures and email them to: indigenoussalmondefenders,,,gmail.com